46
Early before dawn the household arose,
Guests that were going sent for their grooms,
Who bustled briskly about to saddle their horses.
Prepare their possessions and pack their bags.
The nobles dressed themselves to ride in rich array,
Mounted up swiftly and seized hold of the reins,
Each man taking the path that appealed to him most.
The beloved lord of that land was not the last
To be ready to ride with the numerous knights;
He had a quick bite to eat after hearing the Mass,
And then blowing his horn, to the hunting-fields he hurried.
By the first hint of daylight in the sky,
He and the others were already on their horses.
Then the handlers capably coupled the hounds,
Unclasped the kennels, and called them out,
By blowing three loud notes on their bugles,
At which the dogs bayed and raised a ruckus,
And they whipped and wheeled any hounds that strayed,
A hundred huntsmen, I heard there were,

the finest around.

To their stations the houndsmen went,

And the hunters unleashed the hounds.

From mighty blasts of the horns,

A great din arose in the forest.

47
At the first sound of the hunt, nature trembled.
The deer in the dale, dazed with dread,
Made for the high ground, but fiercely they were
Turned back by the line of beaters, who shouted at them bravely.
They let the harts have the gate, with their tall antlers,
As well as the beautiful young bucks with their broad horns,
For the noble lord had declared it forbidden during that season
For any man to lay hand on a male deer.
The hounds were restrained with cries of ‘hey’ and ‘whoa’!
The does driven with great din to the deeps of the valley.
There one could see, as they were loosed, arrows flying
Through each turn in the trees twanged a shaft
And deeply bit into the hide with their barbed heads.
Lo! How they brayed and bled and died on the banks,
And always, the hounds rushed forward to follow them closely,
With the hunters, blowing horns, hastening thereafter,
With such a crackling cry like as if cliffs were collapsing.
Those beasts that escaped the men shooting arrows,
Were pulled down and killed by men waiting below,
As they were harassed at the high ground and driven down to the waters.
The men at the lower stations were so well-trained,
And the greyhounds so large, that they seized them quickly
And dragged them down, as fast as the eye could see

Them appear,

The lord, carried away with delight,

Both on horseback and on foot,

Passed the day in great cheer

Until the dark of night.

48
Thus the lord played under the boughs of the linden-woods,
While Gawain lay in his fine bed,
Snuggled up while the daylight shone on the walls,
Under a splendid coverlet, and surrounded by curtains.
As he lazily dozed, he heard a sly noise,
A small creak at his door, as it stealthily opened.
So he lifted his head from his pillow,
Lifted up a corner of the curtain a little,
And gazed warily to see what it could be.
It was the lady, loveliest to behold,
That drew the door shut behind her, stealthily and silently,
And moved toward the bed. The knight pretended,
And lay down carefully, as if he still slept,
And she tiptoed silently and stole up to his bed,
Lifted up the curtain and crept inside,
And seating herself softly on the bedside,
Lingered there an amazingly long time to see when he would awaken.
The knight lay still for a very long while,
Mulling in his mind what this matter could possibly
Mean or amount to. "How amazing!" he thought,
Yet he said to himself, "It would be more seemly,
To discover her intentions by asking her directly."
So he sat up and stretched and turned toward her,
Opened his eyes, and as if surprised,
Crossed himself, as if by his prayer, to save himself